Uppercase Work/ Life

I am very very very excited to say that the Uppercase Magazine's Work/ Life book is officially released!

So I can finally share the piece that I created for it. My assignment from Janine (editor) was....

"Envision your own folklore or fairy tale and make a self portrait in which elements of you

(ie your hair, limbs, clothes and/or body) depict the story."

It was almost TOO perfect, and I wanted to make something that was me, but also something new.

I'm very happy with how everything turned out. And I will post more images of the book when I receive it in the mail!

I am headed to Iceland tomorrow with 2 other artists who were also included in the book, Vicky Healy and Jenny Nieh!

You can find out more about the book here and buy it here!

Paris & Reykjavik

As usual it is has been too long since my last post.

As usual I will try to be better...

I have had a busy few months. I traveled to Paris in mid July and fell in love, it is a beautiful city and I of course spent some time looking at art in various forms. One discovery I made was the artist Antoine Guilloppé who is an illustrator of childrens books (and other things) and his work is incredible. I bought a copy of Pleine Lune and I have no words.

I also was excited to see such a book being printed for a mass audience rather than a special edition artist book, each page is laser cut.

While I was in Paris I also was looking for inspiration for an art nouveau style commission I was working on. The city itself was definitely an influence.

At the end of the week I am traveling to Reykjavik, Iceland and I am hoping for inspiration. Any tips would be amazing!!

Trees

While I haven't had as much time as I wish I did, I have been slowly working on a new project these past few months.

They are simple black paper x-acto cut trees from all over the world with bits of symbolism and folklore within them.

Here are a few of my favorites, the Willow, Larch, and Quince

I do have 11 x 14 and 11 x 17 prints available for $15 each, as well as cards for $3 each/ 4 for $10, just email me (katieskau@gmail.com)

A few weeks ago I also had the amazing experience of meeting Neil Gaiman, I attended a book reading/ signing for The Ocean at The End of The Lane, (which is so so beautiful) and was able to give him some of my art. As some of you might know he is a huge inspiration to my work and it meant alot to me to be able to share it with him. He was so kind and humble and I even got a kiss!!! Truly magic...

ALSO I found out this week that I will be showing in the Summer Small Works Salon Show at the Greenpoint Gallery!

I will show 3 or 4 of my dollhouse pieces, so you should all come if you are in Brooklyn! It will be free!

Friday, July 12th at 8pm

UPDATES!

It as been far too long since my last post but I am going to try to have this be the first of many updates.

 I should start by saying I have 2 events this week! Last week I found out that I was a finalist in the illustrator portfolio category for the Tassy Walden: New Voices in Children's Literature award! I am so excited and honored. There will be a reception tomorrow night at the James Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, CT, so if you are in the area feel free to stop by.

I submitted my dollhouse and thunderbird book illustrations.

Another event is happening this Thursday, it is the Love Out Loud exibition at Midoma gallery in Midtown Manhattan. It will feature LGBT artists and proceeds from tickets, as well as a portion of any art sold will go to the True Colors Foundation.

A print from my Secret Garden/ Dollhouse series will be shown/ for sale!

For more info and to buy tickets go here!

More updates to come <3

Hardboiled (A Group Show in Bushwick)

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. It has been a very busy month though between my day job and freelance/ personal work.

I wanted to tell you all that I will be a part of a group show in Bushwick next Saturday that was organized by some amazing illustrators that I graduated with last year! You should all stop by if you happen to live in Brooklyn.

I have ALSO been printing/ cutting/ staring at wedding invitations:

And incase you were wondering, yes each tree hole does need to be cut out

More updates later this week (hopefully)!

The Victorian Rabbit

Just a quick update today!

I have continued working on the wedding invites that I posted about last week. The bride I am working with asked if I could make a girl rabbit in Victorian dress that they could use as part of their backdrop. I am very curious about this backdrop and can't wait to see it when I attend the wedding!

This was very fun to work on. As you may have gathered I love drawing/ cutting out hair so a Marie Antoinette style is always an exciting challenge.

I never thought I would create a Victorian rabbit until this project haha I am lucky to have such a creative client.

NG, 25th post (!), and busyness

So I have finally finished an submitted my pieces for the Neil Gaiman Calendar of Tales Project.

Not sure when we find out the results but it was a good experience regardless, It was interesting to create new assignment based work.

So:

February:

March:

and

August:

I have included links to each story, they are fun and very short so read them and the illustrations will make much more sense.

I have been so busy these past few weeks and that is why my blogging has become so sporadic, but I am getting back on track!

Also any illustrators out there have any luck with agency access or ad base? Is it worth the price?

Have a good Tuesday.

Wedding Invites

I have been very busy the past week working on the Calender of Tales project and I haven't had much time to come here to blog, or really do anything else to be honest. I cannot wait to post what I have been working on, but that will probably come in 2 weeks.

Besides the Calender of Tales I have been working for the past few months on a very fun wedding invite for a quirky and unique couple. The project was based around Alice in Wonderland and an overall Victorian aesthetic. The couples vision was very specific but I still had room to play, here is my favorite edit of the card with handwriting by my beloved Jenny Nieh:

This coming weekend I am so excited to say I will be taking photos of my dollhouse at the beautiful Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT with the lovely Liz Calvi, but I will get into more detail about that this week!

Also if you have twitter I have just officially joined, my name is @katieskau and I will be posting about my work, as well as other fun things, and I need people to follow!

Plugged

The past week or so I have been working on a really interesting project for a short film called Plugged.

"PLUGGED is a short film written by Dea Jenkins (BFA, Digital Filmmaking, The Art Institute of Houston), based on the true events of a life-altering incident in New York City. The focus of the story, set in a ballet studio, concerns the adults in a young girl’s life who were either unable or unwilling to assist the girl following this traumatic moment."

I created 6 illustrations that will be displayed (and for sale) at a fundraiser for the film this Saturday at:

Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, 55 Bethune St, NYC

From 6:30-8pm

Although I didn't have as much time as I would've liked, I am happy with the simplicity of the pieces, and the gritty aspect that was an important characteristic and something I haven't really explored.

I hope you can all attend the event, be sure to check out the facebook page!

February Birthdays

A few weeks ago I was discussing with one of my best friends Liz about how there are so many birthdays in February, and we named off quite a few mutual friends.

So although I made this quick birthday sign for my girlfriend (whose birthday is Saturday) it can be for any of you out there who have just celebrated or are about to celebrate a Feb birthday!

PS: I have a few very exciting projects coming up. I have also just discovered Neil Gaimans twitter illustration project, and if you did not know this before I LOVE NEIL GAIMAN and it has been a recent dream of mine to illustrate for him, so I cannot wait to participate.

A Buffalo Creature

So tonight I wanted to share more of an update about the buffalo I posted a few weeks ago, it is coming along slowly,

but the next time I post about it, it will be finished and hanging on my wall.

I am enjoying this series as an escape from the strong narrative that surrounded my work so much when I was in school, while I don't think I will ever fully get away from narrative it does feel fresh to me.

<3

Collaboration with Jenny Nieh

I have always wanted to do a collaboration with someone through the mail, and because Jenny and I have an understanding of each others work that I have never felt from anyone else it just had to be with her. We also are sadly about 100 miles apart.

I created the boar and handed it off to Jenny who turned it into a beautiful dyed diptych.

It is currently unfinished, I still will add more cut paper, but now it is Jenny's turn to start with a new project.

Although we haven't actually mailed anything yet I have hopes for the future...

be sure to also look at Jenny's work, she is an amazing designer and illustrator currently working for Free People

Creatures 2 (just about) finished

So the first piece of Creatures is finally complete. Although this is part of the series, I wanted to create something for Jenny Nieh's birthday and I knew that she was really liking these new animals, and I also knew she loved deer, so this seemed perfect. I gave her the piece on Saturday.

Upon seeing my buffalo piece a few weeks ago (and a boar before that which I will probably be posting about on Thursday) Jenny had a great idea about displaying these pieces, to put them in between 2 pieces of glass (or plastic) so it would be completely clear, and there would be no paper or backing distracting from the actual animals. I had bought 2 clip frames, to use the glass panels but it didn't work out and I am still looking to solve this problem if anyone out there has any suggestions?

Nest Studio

So a few months ago I created a logo for Nest Studio, they make beautiful pillows (I have 3 on my couch) out of fabrics from all over the world.

Everything is completely handmade, including the tags which are block printed.

"Nest Studio, based in West Hartford, CT, is a textile studio, where one- of-a-kind decorative pillows are created by two friends, Erica Moses and Maureen Skau. The pillows are made from fabric from all over the world, including Brazil, Bali, India and Japan. Each pillow is different. No two are ever alike and all of them have surprising back." -Taken from their Etsy bio

I would highly recommend checking out their Etsy, as well as liking their new Facebook page.

 

Update! Still in progress but coming along, I haven't worked on my buffalo in a few days, but I'm hoping to finish it sometime next week. Once these are done I will include some higher quality scans to allow the pieces to be seen at their best.

PS: Hi new followers :)

Creatures part two

A new, very early, work in progress

Creatures

Buffalo work in progress for a new series, created with cut black canson paper.

Little Red

The past few months have flown by, new job: new life.

Awhile back I made a book for my brothers English friend Jack. His niece Ella loves Little Red Riding Hood, when he and my brother were finally going to meet up, I knew I wanted to give the book.

I created a completely handmade copy for her, with my inkjet, glue, paper, ect.

Our Winter Garden

I have been working constantly preparing items for Jenny and I's new etsy shop! Be sure to check it out! Special thanks to Liz Calvi for taking many of the amazing phots for us!

Our Winter Garden